A call for papers for an international conference in Rome at John Cabot University – May 22-23, 2014. The conference will take place during a new Graduate-level studies Summer Institute on Religion and Global Politics.
From the conference website:
Although the study of religion and politics has blossomed over the past decade, the normative debates over the appropriate place of religion in modern democracies often remain divorced from the study of the actual practices and meanings of religion in these democracies. Consequently, many new normative concepts and arguments have not filtered down to the empirical study of religion, while normative debates are often inadequately informed by the empirical realities of contemporary religious practices and beliefs.
Rethinking Political Catholicism aims to bridge this divide by focusing on the fertile case of political Catholicism in Italy. Empirically, the conference aims to take stock of political Catholicism in Italy today, compare it with Catholic and Muslim politics elsewhere, and use contemporary theoretical and normative insights to better understand its post-secular dynamics. Normatively, the conference aims to evaluate the practices of contemporary political Catholicism in Italy and elsewhere, and thus contribute to developing a more sophisticated debate about the proper roles of religious politics in contemporary democracies.
Read the full description here.
The call for papers comes from:
Michael D. Driessen, PhD
Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
John Cabot University
Via della Lungara, 233
00165 Rome, Italy